Know your English
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“What are you doing here? I thought you’d busy with your sister’s engagement. Isn’t it tomorrow?”
“Yes, it is. I really have nothing to do. My mother and grandmother…”
“How many people are you expecting to turn up for the event?”
“About 50, I guess. I hope you’d be able to come.”
“I’ll be there. Wouldn’t miss it for the world. By the way, the word ‘hope’ is usually followed by ‘will’ and not ‘would’. I hope you’ll come for the engagement.”
“But I can also say, ‘I hope you come for the engagement’.”
“That’s right! Both are possible.”
“I see. How about this example? My parents are hoping that you will be there.”
“Sounds good! I hope there’ll be good food for the guests.”
“I can assure you that there’ll be great food. It’s nice to see you so relaxed. Guess the Annual Shareholders Meeting went well.”
“It went quite smoothly for a change. Unlike last year, we didn’t have to…”
“I remember last year. People were shouting and screaming…”
“There was none of that this year. What made me happy was that the CEO gave a shout-out to everyone from the marketing department. He was…”
“But you just said things went smoothly, and there was no shouting or screaming. So, what…”
“When you ‘give a shout-out’ to someone, what you are doing is thanking the individual publicly. The expression is frequently used in informal contexts.”
“I see. In other words, it is a public acknowledgment of something that the person has done.”
“I guess you could say that. Here’s an example. The movie star gave a shout-out to two of her favourite directors who were sitting in the audience.”
“I’d like to give a shout-out to all our sponsors. Without their help, this event wouldn’t have been possible.”
“That sounds good. I think the students deserve a shout-out for cleaning up the campus.”
“They certainly do. And it was so unexpected. I don’t think anyone…”
“It certainly was. I think for most people it came as a bolt from the blue.”
“A bolt from the blue? What does it mean? Something unexpected?”
“Very good! That’s exactly what it means. When you say that something was a ‘bolt from the blue’, what you’re suggesting is that it was unexpected. It also carries with it the suggestion that it was quite sudden. Here’s an example. The news that Sunitha was getting married next week came like a bolt from the blue.”
“The students’ decision to go on strike was a bolt from the blue for the VC.”
“That’s a good example. The recent coup attempt in Russia came as a bolt from the blue.”
“It certainly did. Tell me, what is the origin of this idiom?”
“The bolt refers to a thunderbolt. What we normally hear when it rains heavily.”
“Thunder is usually accompanied by lightning, right?”
“That’s right! The ‘blue’ in the idiom refers to the blue sky.”
“Blue sky? But we don’t usually hear thunder when the sky is blue. It usually happens…”
“Exactly! We don’t expect to hear thunder or see lightning when the sky is blue. When it happens, it’s totally unexpected.”
“Which is why ‘bolt from the blue’ means ‘totally unexpected’.”
“That’s right!”
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